The Truth Is
by Cyanide-Ocean
Summary: Sometimes the person who is right for you is the one who's always been standing right beside you.


For all of Aubrey's life her father had drilled into her head that she wasn't working hard enough and wasn't doing things the correct way (even if there was more than one way to approach a subject) and that's why in his eyes she was failing. His ridicule had run the senior's self-esteem into the ground as she continued to struggle to prove to him that she could live up to his expectations that he'd set so high, it'd be impossible for the blonde to ever reach them. However he hadn't done this out of spite for his daughter - he pushed her because he wanted her to be ready for the real world; when she was out of college and following through with her plan to study law as a graduate student, he wanted her to be prepared for how unforgiving and relentless the outside world could be. Few perceived the way he pressured the blonde that way, however, although while Aubrey didn't like how he went about preparing her for life outside of Barden, she knew his motives and had to admit they were effective. While he was the root cause behind her stress vomiting, and that in turn had lead to The Bellas' downfall the previous year as well as her humiliation over the event that continued to hang over her head to serve as a constant reminder of her failure that year, Aubrey refused to give up trying to get The Bellas back into the ICCA. She was a Posen and Posens never, ever gave up.

The current members of The Bellas didn't know Alice from her junior year except for Chloe. Though for Aubrey, that was a good thing that only one person knew what the then-senior had been like instead of the entire group as she could feel her friend silently disagreeing with every decision she made for the group - Chloe could see that she was just like how Alice was; controlling, demanding, unyielding. And Aubrey's perfectionist personality didn't help matters at all as it only intensified each of the other three qualities. She didn't run the group so strictly to purposefully give the women a hard time; she just needed everything to be done perfectly.

But the way she managed the a cappella group was causing a rift in her and Chloe's friendship - the redhead beginning to pull away from her - and she found it hurt her more than it probably should have. Every time her friend looked at her, she could see the frustration reflected in the Chloe's eyes, which vexed Aubrey to no end. The redhead may not have agreed with her friend's methods of leadership, but she wasn't trying to understand things from the blonde's point of view either - at least, that was how it felt to Aubrey, This resulted in her feeling as if she were being challenged, which only caused her defenses to tighten and her demeanor to become colder. What was worse, though, was that she had no one to turn to for reassurance that in the end, everything would be okay. Chloe was Aubrey's go to person, but with the redhead being the very person that she cared about who now took an opposing stance on Aubrey's opinions when it came to The Bellas, the blonde was left with no one. Regardless of their disagreements when it came to the a cappella group, the pair continued to support each other nonetheless.

Just as when Aubrey had been sure to visit Chloe in the hospital when she could. She'd had nodes for a while, but had only told the blonde of this, not having wanted to add her friend's stress, which was already high. Aubrey had The Bellas to concern herself with along with staying on top of all her classes, earning her perfect grades in hopes of hearing those words she'd longed to hear from her father, 'I'm proud of you.' That, however, was a long shot, and she knew this all too well. Yet the blonde continued to work herself tirelessly nonetheless as she clung onto the small shred of hope that some day he would say it.

Aubrey brushed off her friend's reluctance to share the information about having nodes as no big deal, when in reality it was. She thought Chloe knew better than having to feel the need to tip-toe around things with her, but that clearly hadn't been the case. This fact left her feeling more bitter, which had caused her to treat the redhead exactly how she treated all the other members - worse, perhaps. Chloe may have had the title as co-captain, but that seemed to be only for show as she didn't really have any say in the group unless it coincided with the blonde's. It had been the elephant in the room until Beca pointed it out moments before Aubrey had cut her out of the group, but not without the redhead's attempt to jump to her rescue, of course.

Chloe was always there at Beca's side, following the freshman around like a lost puppy, and this irked Aubrey to no end. It was always Beca this and Beca that, and what amazing mixes Beca made, or how cool she was with her alternative style; her ear monstrosities, mad lib beats, and not to mention her sarcasm, much to the blonde's chagrin. Even at the sound of the brunette's name being mentioned, the deep seated feeling of dread knotted Aubrey's stomach as it continued to fester inside her as the days wore on. She could feel herself becoming agitated much more easily, her temper's short fuse now shorter, and as much as she didn't like it either, Chloe was receiving the brunt of it. Aubrey got her fix of expressing her resentment towards Beca at Bellas' rehearsals when they became locked in one of their heated yelling matches. Outside of rehearsals, however, was when Chloe was on the receiving end of the blonde's wrath more than she already was during Bellas' practice (which usually only consisted of getting snapped at). But aside from Beca getting all of Chloe's attention and the freshman's rebellious personality - especially how she constantly voiced how the setlist needed to be changed - Aubrey couldn't claim having any issues with the brunette as she didn't know Beca on a more personal level.

That was how the year panned out; Aubrey and Beca harping over the setlist, Aubrey shooting down Chloe's words and denying her to have a say in the group, and Aubrey running the group with her dictatorship ways. All the members amounted her attitude towards the need to be perfect and the need for The Bellas to be perfect as well, but while that was part of the reason, there was more to it. However, even the blonde herself wasn't made aware of these reasons until the day Beca asked to return to the a cappella group and the women sat around in a circle each making a confession.

As Chloe made her confession that she'd had her nodes removed and may never be able to sing above a G sharp again, she began to break down into small sobs, which caused Aubrey's heart to break, just as when Chloe tearfully announced to the group that she had nodes. Seeing the redhead so upset caused Aubrey to feel upset for her in turn. It was then that Aubrey finally accepted why she held such contempt for Beca and why she'd been such an awful friend to Chloe: she was in love with her best friend. She had been for years, in fact, but hadn't yet come to terms with it, refusing to accept that was the case - why Chloe's emotions had such a great impact on her own, why whenever she saw the other woman in tears and all she wanted to do was wrap her arms around Chloe and tell her best friend that she was there for her.

The only problem with loving her best friend was that her best friend loved someone else: Beca Mitchell. By the end of the year Aubrey felt defeated; Beca had managed to take away from her The Bellas as it was blatantly obvious that everyone preferred the freshman over her, but even more than that, Beca had managed (even if inadvertently) to take Chloe away from her as well. What was worse for Aubrey was that she felt there was nothing she could do about it other than watch it happen. She'd never dropped any hints with Chloe that she'd loved her for years, but now it was too late. She'd held back in confessing to Chloe her feelings out of fear of rejection, or even if she wasn't turned down, then surely the relationship would go wrong at one point or another and she's certainly only have herself to blame for it. Since she hadn't made her move and Beca had already reeled Chloe in, Aubrey was forced to back down and let them pursue a relationship if that was what they wanted. She'd support Chloe's relationship with Beca as that was what best friends did - they supported each other no matter what, even if one had to mask their unhappiness. Or rather that's how Aubrey understood the unspoken rule of what it meant to be best friends as. Supporting the redhead would, without a doubt, be agonizing, but her friendship with Chloe meant more to Aubrey than her friend's relationship with Beca and so she'd remain silent on her feelings for her best friend.


End file.
